OUF! What a week. Hey, wait. Oeuf - ouf? It was just Easter and even though we didn't do much, the Easter Bunny somehow found his way into our apartment and hid eggs - some good, some very mediocre (but still edible) - all over our apartment. I meant ouf as in the noise - a kind of a big sigh... yup. What a week! We had a great time with Erin and Fred and it was super fun showing them Tokyo and just hanging out - eeeee! I love having visitors. Our week was a bit more mellow, with later starts and easy at-home evenings, which are just as fun as the go-go-go days - in a different, easy and calm way. I don't think that we've ever been crazy go-getters with any of our visitors anyways, but the mood was definitely a bit more relaxed.
Erin and Fred were only here for a week - six full days - so we knew it was going to be tough to get it all in, and I think they left with a visit-it-next-time list almost as long (if not longer?) than the places-we've-been checklist... this city is just so enormous, and there are so many neighborhoods to see that it would take years - maybe? yes, I think years... to see it all. With my job (more on that later - maybe the next blog?), I'd either hang out with everyone in the morning, and meet people for dinner OR I'd be off in the early-ish hours, and hook up with Erin and Fredster in the late afternoon. I can't remember everything that they saw, or specifically what the highlights were for them, BUT I think they really liked Meiji-jingu (Dan and Milka's favourite), the Food Show (everyone's favourite) and ... the cherry blossoms. They are so so so amazing, so beautiful - and we are so lucky to live so close to one of the top viewing spots in the city, the Meguro River. Lined on both sides for blocks and blocks and blocks, they are a sight to see day and night and again and again and again. There are trees with blossoms as white as snow, and others with varying degrees of pink: light pink, dark pink, pale pink, electric pink - it makes for quite the show. We also went up to Ueno Park, a famous viewing spot, to see the sakura; there were throngs of people that had the same idea, and even though it was a weekday, picnic-ers and revellers and drinkers lined the blocked off designated picnic area. It is a time for picnics, parties, lots of food and LOTS of drink. Apparently, on the weekends popular spots like Ueno are full, from dawn to dusk, of people enjoying blossoms and beer and sake... and the intoxicating effects of all three. On Saturday morning I went for a run with Marili (one of our South African friends - back in Tokyo after three months of at-home off season) along the river, and even at 8:30, there were people bbqing and congregating and drinking...!! Though we never found the time for a picnic, we enjoyed several walks in parks and along rivers and under the full and heavy flowers.
What else, what else. There is much more to say about the visit, but another highlight for SURE was Saturday's volleyball game. So, the history: despite a few positive surges late in the season, Steve's team finished in last place; this committed them to playing in a relegation game against the top team in the second division - a game that they played and won as the top div two team last year. So, there was pressure to win, to stay in the league, and as spectators - Erin, Fred, Nao and I - we were all a tad nervous. Eeeeeek. Set one was close and super back and forth and the lead changed and then changed again and then again, and there were unforced errors and then it was game point for the other team - I think maybe they were up 24-22 or something. OOoooooh it was nerve-racking.. nervous nervous NERVOUS! But then, SOMEhow, F.C. Tokyo managed to creep back point by point and they won 26-24 - !!! So exciting. The rest of the game was good, but the scores were not quite so close; they ended up winning 3-0... hurray! Nao (and then Steve) found some video on youtube, so I'm going to post it. Also, what was so exciting about this game is that Nao, after discovering that Steve was the only guy on the team without his own banner, decided to make him one...!! How amazing and sweet is that!?! I love it. So Saturday's game was the banner debut - visible in one of these videos.
Erin and Fred had to bus it to the airport on Sunday morning, so after seeing them off I took the train back down to Fujisawa to watch them win again, 3-0! I was thinking that everyone (players, staff, coaches) would be a little more happy and enthused, but the mood was more we can do better we should do better next year. I was hoping for at least one day of happiness and relief and yay we won energy, but that is not to be. The guys have a week off - or a week of optional practice - so Steve is stoked... he deserves a week of down time and recovery after a season of five hour practices. They have one more tourney in May, and then that's it for the year - eeeeee. Can you believe it? I can't. There is still so much that I want to see and do and blog about, and I want to spend time with my friends here and not have the last two months fly by like the first six have. I always have mixed feelings at the end of every year, with happy feelings about going home and seeing family and friends (and their new families) but sad feelings about leaving the home and friends that we've made here. However, the end is not near; my parents come to visit next week (yaaaaay!) and we still have two months to enjoy the friendships, sights, sounds, smells, and foods that have made this such an amazing experience so far... hurray!
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